I knew when we heard that James Gunn’s Lanterns TV series had Tom King and Damon Lindelof involved that we might be in trouble.
It’s sounding more and more as if the DCU Lanterns series will be woke and all about teaching us life lessons.
We get hints that my initial feeling might be correct from Tom King, who writes for DC Comics and the Lanterns TV series and consults with James Gunn on the DCU, as well as from a rumored casting description for confirmed actors. Lindelof was also behind the Watchmen TV series. How’d that work out?
What does Tom King say about Lanterns?
If you are not familiar with Tom King, he’s a former CIA (they never leave the CIA) officer who now writes for DC Comics. Well, his comics feature woke disclaimers about “offensive” terminology, and King allegedly tried to get a comic book artist canceled because of his politics (how did Gunn like it?), among other things. Sounds like a standup dude.
Now while speaking with Business Insider, the alarm bells go off as King says the Lanterns series is about making the characters “relevant today” and the “issues of everything we’re dealing with” (we all know what that means):
“Damon, Chris, and I came with a lot of love for the material and we wanted to do what I’ve always done in comics, which is take these original creations and show why they’re still relevant today, and why they can speak to both the audience and the issues of everything we’re dealing with.”
So what is Lanterns about?
The official description says: “The series follows new recruit John Stewart and Lantern legend Hal Jordan, two intergalactic cops drawn into a dark, earth-based mystery as they investigate a murder in the American heartland.”
However, at the same time, I’ve seen various descriptions suggesting that Hal Jordan is over the hill or washed up and doesn’t get along with Stewart. I think we can see where this is going.
Also, I think with the series being set in the “Heartland of America,” we can potentially see where this series could be going (especially after the big election win by you know who — don’t mention the name to Gunn, King, or Lindelof!).
Fans also think James Gunn is going to kill off Hal Jordan in the series.
What is the casting rumor say?
Regarding the casting, recently saw the confirmation that Poorna Jagannathan is playing “Zoe” in the Lanterns TV series.
Previous to the cast, a rumor hit the net that Poorna Jagannathan was being cast in the role as Zoe.
However, the rumor says: “John Stewart gets into an affair with an older woman named Zoe. She’s a Native American woman and the only person of color in an all white town. Zoe’s married to a businessman named Dillon and he’s described as one of the antagonists of the series.”
Well, of course Dillon is probably a white dude, which looks to be Garret Dillahunt as William Macon, as Dillahunt was named in the original rumor with Poorna Jagannathan.
Well, as I pointed out, Poorna Jagannathan isn’t even a Native American Indian, and Native Americans don’t consider themselves POC (and all my Indian friends hate the woke BS). She’s the actually the daughter of Indian diplomats (as in India), and Indians from India don’t consider themselves POC.
It could be the casting call got the info wrong, but again, both Poorna Jagannathan and Garret Dillahunt were named in the rumor, with their casting since confirmed. It’s probably safe to say the description is also somewhat true or at least used ideas being tossed around.
Possible spoilers?
So if I had to guess, how Lanterns could be potentially woke; putting everything together:
- The series follows the old white dude Hal Jordan who goes to investigate something in America’s Heartland, the whitest place on the planet Earth
- Hal, the old bastard, doesn’t want to be there and is miserable
- Hal is forced to have the angry, young black John Stewart tag along, who Hal doesn’t want to be bothered with
- Hal and the black John Stewart arrive at a town of racists
- One white guy somehow happens to be married to a POC who is the only POC they have ever seen
- The wife is also miserable and she hates her racist husband and racist townsfolk who she feels have been holding her back her entire life (rumored plot of Marvel’s Fantastic Four minus the racism)
- The 30-year old John Stewart gets into a relationship with the 50-year-old POC – you know because they are both POC (even though Native Americans and Indians are not)
- Hal and John eventually solve the mystery but not before the series tells the audience how bad white people are and gives life lessons with every episode
- Hal dies
- John Stewart is the DCU’s Green Lantern (DC just gave John Stewart a massive statue, too,)
Who wants to bet Gunn kills off Nathan Fillion’s goofy ass Guy Gardner in Superman?
Hope I’m wrong.
